BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey's president vowed Monday to keep up the pressure against a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia after his troops captured the Syrian town of Afrin, threatening to expand the military offensive into other Kurdish-held areas across northern Syria and even into neighboring Iraq.

A Ukrainian pilot falsely accused by Russia of shooting down the MH17 airliner has reportedly taken his own life. Capt Vladyslav Voloshyn, an SU-25 attack jet pilot, shot himself at home in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Monday, local media reported. Voloshyn, 29, had been working at Mykolaiv airport since he retired from the airforce. He previously flew 33 combat missions in an SU-25 during the war between Ukrainian and Russian and separatist forces in Donbas i

Students returned to Florida International University on Monday for their first day of classes since a newly installed pedestrian bridge collapsed last week and killed six people including a student at the school.The meeting on Thursday involved FIGG, which is the private contractor for the overall bridge design, the school, Florida Department of Transportation officials and Munilla Construction Management, which installed the $14.2 million bridge.

By Jon HerskovitzAUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A serial bomber is suspected of planting four bombs this month around Austin, Texas, that have killed two people and injured four others and unnerved residents of the Texas capital."We are clearly dealing with what we expect to be a serial bomber at this point," Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told a news conference on Monday.Manley said that more than 500 federal agents were involved in the investigation, including from the Federal Bureau of Investiga

By Alex Fraser and Peter NichollsSALISBURY, England (Reuters) - Inspectors from the world's chemical weapons watchdog on Monday began examining the poison used to strike down a former Russian double agent in England, in an attack that London blames on Moscow.Britain says Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who are critically ill in hospital, were targeted with the Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent Novichok.Russian President Vladimir Putin, who easily won another six-year term on Sunday, said th

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to step in and block a new congressional district map in Pennsylvania, again rebuking Republicans who are fighting hard to preserve a 2011 plan that has given the party a considerable electoral advantage.

The European Union must have a common policy towards Russia and China, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday."We must have a common policy towards Russia and China," Merkel said via a translator at a joint conference with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw.Merkel also said that the future of the entire European Union was important for her government, not just the future of the eurozone or some other group of states.

Ride-sharing giant Uber said Monday it is suspending its self-driving car program after one of the vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in the US state of Arizona.Uber has suspend use of self-driving cars it was testing or using in Tempe, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and San Francisco, according to the company.Uber was only using autonomous vehicles as part of its regular passenger service in Pittsburgh and Tempe.

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey's seizure of the town of Afrin in northern Syria is a significant military achievement for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that gives him control over a large chunk of Syrian territory but also entrenches his troops as an occupying force in a crowded terrain packed with adversaries.

By Andrew Osborn and Christian LoweMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a softer tone towards the West on Monday after winning his biggest ever election victory, saying he had no desire for an arms race and would do everything he could to resolve differences with other countries.Putin's victory, which comes at a time when his relations with the West are on a hostile trajectory, will extend his political dominance of Russia by six years to 2024."We will do everything to reso

Stephen Hawking died today (March 14), leaving behind a massive legacy of work as an astrophysicist, science communicator, activist, and figure of pop culture admiration.Hawking's most famous paper, "Black Hole Explosions?," published 44 years ago in 1974, took a hatchet to the whole notion of black holes as physicists had previous understood them."Classically, a black hole should be 'perfectly cold' in the sense that it absorbs everything but emits nothing.

By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece ToksabayANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish forces will press their offensive against Kurdish YPG forces along the length of Turkey's border with Syria and if necessary into northern Iraq, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, threatening wider conflict in Syria's civil war.A day after Turkish troops swept into Afrin, the main town in a pocket of Kurdish-controlled territory in northwest Syria, Erdogan said Turkey would also target a region stretching nearly 400 km (250 miles

Police also said they have been unable to determine a motive for the string of bombings which have killed two people in Austin and put the city of nearly one million on edge."As we said from the very beginning, we were not willing to classify this as terrorism, as hate, because we just don't know enough," police chief Brian Manley told reporters."We're clearly dealing with what we expect to be a serial bomber at this point based on the similarities between now what is the fourth device," the pol

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey's president on Monday vowed to expand military operations across northern Syria and even into neighboring Iraq after his forces drove Syrian Kurdish fighters from the northern Syrian town of Afrin.

Four bombs that have gone off this month around Austin, Texas, with the latest injuring two men on Sunday, have similarities that lead investigators to believe they are the work of a serial bomber, police said on Monday."We are clearly dealing with what we expect to be a serial bomber at this point," Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told a press conference.Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene, the FBI said

Former FBI director James Comey's forthcoming book has shot to the top of Amazon's rankings, helped by President Donald Trump's repeated attacks.One month before its release, Comey's "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership" hit number one for all books on Amazon's current best sellers list over the weekend, before slipping back to number two Monday, still the leading non-fiction book.

India is the most vulnerable country to climate change, followed by Pakistan, the Philippines and Bangladesh, a ranking by HSBC showed on Monday.The bank assessed 67 developed, emerging and frontier markets on vulnerability to the physical impacts of climate change, sensitivity to extreme weather events, exposure to energy transition risks and ability to respond to climate change.

As McCormack explained, the Navy will use the post-commissioning shakedown to test all of the new systems onboard Ford to identify any deficiencies or fixes that might need to be made. Ford will then move into a post-shakedown availability where the shipyard will make any needed corrections and install certain critical components onboard the ship that have yet to be installed.One such system is Ford’s Dual Band Radar, McCormack said, where there is still ongoing wo

The pro-Ankara Syrian forces who helped the Turkish army oust Kurdish militia from the northern Syrian city of Afrin are an umbrella grouping of fighting brigades trained by Turkey into an increasingly effective fighting unit.Ankara calls these Syrian forces the Free Syrian Army (FSA) but in reality they are made out of different components that crystallised during the course of Syria's seven-year civil war.While the Turkish army itself was involved in the two-month offensive that took Afrin fro

Volkswagen is a manufacturer that's been making a lot of noise recently about its plans for new electric and hybrid vehicles, but one of the first that will actually be seen in action may surprise a few people.The car has been named the ID R Pikes Peak, and as well as putting in a spectacular time at the hill climb event it's also designed to showcase the potential and spectacular performance capabilities of Volkswagen's electric car technology.